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Sheaf
For a first centruy Jew, passover was the 60th day after passover. an agricultural festival. . the first sheaf from the wheat crop was offered to God- in gratitude and in prayer that the rest of the crop would be as good and safely gathered in.
But they were more than agricultural festivals.
They remembered. They remembered their greatest story.
The story of the Exodus from egypt.... God remembering and fulfilling his promise to Abraham by rescuing his people.
The Promise To ABraham- Genesis 12.1-3
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
The Promise
lambs were sacrificed. Israelites were saved form the avenging angel who slew the firstborn of the Egyptians.
50 ays after Passover, they came to Mount Sinai where Moses received the Law.
Pentecost, the fiftieth day isn’t just about the first fruits, the harvest which says the harvest has begun.... It’s about God giving his redeemed people the way of life by which they must now carry out his purposes.
Sheaf
That Sheaf is like the sheaf which is offered to God as the sign of the great harvest to come.
Mount Sinai
Much like Moses going up the mountain to bring the law down, here, at Pentecost, Jesus has gone up into heaven in the ascension and- so - he is now coming down again, not with a written law carved on tablets of stone, but with the dynamic enerby of the law designed to be written on human hearts.
Pentecost
Hurricane Wilma
The church is not comprised of weather people- sitting in a building discussing something that is happening out side, miles away, states away- something that we can’t really grasp.
Jim Cantore
The church is meant to be like Jim Cantore- in the storm. feeling the wind and the fire and experiencing what God is doing first hand.
The images of wind and fire are what Luke says it was like on the first day. Many Christians have used these images to describe what it is sometimes like when the spirit comes to do new things in the lives of individuals and communitites.
1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.
The spirit comes not to divide, but to unite.
2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
Note: The wind came from heaven. Must have been terrifying.
When the spirit comes, the creative power of God comes from heaven and does its work there.
The point is that transformation , change, on earth- takes place with the power of heaven. This change takes place in the bodies, the minds, the hearts, and the lives of the followers of Jesus- as a community.
3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Haiti
5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.
6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.
7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?
8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?
9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome,
11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”
12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”
How can we understand Pentecost? What did it mean then? What does it mean for us now?
13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”
The Naysayers. The unbelieving. The skeptics. The
4 key points....
Pentecost Cannot Be Divorced From The Ascension
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Pentecost Cannot Be Divorced From The Ascension
Jesus Returning To Heaven Signals A New, Heavenly Beginning On Earth
thy kingdom come
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Pentecost Cannot Be Divorced From The Ascension
Jesus Returning To Heaven Signals A New, Heavenly Beginning On Earth
The Holy Spirit Poured Out On The Church Is The Stuff Of Heaven
Think of Luke 2- the birth of Jesus… how Jesus coming changed the entire world.
Pentecost Cannot Be Divorced From The Ascension
Jesus Returning To Heaven Signals A New, Heavenly Beginning On Earth
The Holy Spirit Poured Out On The Church Is The Stuff Of Heaven
The Coming Of The Spirit Is The Direct Result Of The Going Of Jesus
Pentecost
Pentecost is about the church. So what about the church? Context.
I want you to remember a scripture we read earlier today. Genesis 12.1-3
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
What is the context of Genesis 12? It is all that comes before it.
Look closely at Genesis 11.1-9
1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
The people of Babel are building a tower to reach to God… (think the serpent to Adam and Eve- In the day you eat of this tree you will be like God).
God sees their human arrogance and pride- and he thwarts their project, confusing their languages. They cannot understand one another. They can’t work together, they can’t be one. They can’t be what they were before the fall and they can’t be what God wants them to be on the day of Pentecost.
Aside from the church. Aside from the body of Christ.
The day of Pentecost implies that the churse of sin CAN be overturned.
The promise to Abraham- all the world will be blessed through the seed of Abraham working through the church.
The whole world will hear the gospel.
The Church Is God’s Answer To A Broken World
The Church Is God’s Answer To A Broken World
Jesus Is God’s Answer To Sin- He sent Him to earth
The Church Is God’s Answer to brokenness- He’s sent us to the world.